• An angler tries balloon fishing to lure sharks near the jetty.
by BRENDAN FOSTER
GANGS of youths are torturing sharks caught off the Woodman Point jetty in Coogee.
Yangebup local Phil Eva, who regularly throws in a line at the popular fishing spot, said he confronted drunk youths stabbing a one-metre shark on the jetty last week.
“It was disgusting and shocking and I was so upset,” he said.
“I grabbed one of the knives and put it through the shark’s brain to put it out of its misery.
“Then they just cut its head off and kicked it around the jetty.”
Mr Eva said the jetty had been packed with families at the time.
Another fisher, who didn’t want to be named, told the Herald he’d also seen a gang he estimated to be mostly 14-years-olds bashing a bull shark.
“Let’s just say they didn’t let it live,” he said.
Mr Eva, an electoral officer for Cockburn Labor MP Fran Logan, said he’d also seen a stingray with its wings cut off and another shark head floating in the water.
“The other day a hammerhead was swimming between the pylons and people were trying to jag it,” he said.
Mr Logan went to the jetty last Sunday and said was gobsmacked to find anglers balloon fishing with “whopping big chunks meat with great big hooks”.
“The balloons were drifting towards Coogee Beach and I thought ‘you’ve got to be joking, these people are attracting sharks onto the beach’,” he said.
“Meanwhile people are catching whiting no bigger than the palm of your hand, which are clearly undersized.
“All this behaviour is going on and the department of fisheries are no where to be seen.”
When the Herald asked a bunch of teenagers if they had noticed anyone mistreating marine life, one mouthy young tacker told this journo to take his camera and shove it.
What an absolute shambles you herald people are..
Phil Eva, i and 23 other people say you are a discrace to say such accusations..
mr random.. a bullshark has never been caught off of that jetty.. bashing a shark okay good description of that there.. cutting its head off is a way of fishing.
FRANK LOGAN..! Have YOU ever thrown a shark head in the water.. OBVIOUSLY NOT.! SHARK HEADS SINK..! How embarassing for you..! hahahah a whole fish being called a chunk of meat haha even more embarassing.. yes big hooks cause a 3m shark has a big mouth no need to be a rocket scientist about that one. we catch sharks we dont attract them that would be called chumming.. the sharks are there its the ocean. the ammount of baitfish that they feed on is what makes them come to the area..
UNDERSIZE WHITING hahahahaha THERES NO SIZE ON WHITING.. do your research.. what a bunch of bananas you really are.
your a discrace, what yous have turned this into i will not stand for we could be staying home doing drugs but no we go fishing catch small sharks kill them eat them do not mistreat them at all big sharks are all released well.
These accousations are disgusting and look forward too feedback from this.
Ed’s note: this comment has been edited for legal reasons.
this is honestly the most stupid thing i have ever come across, i have fished the jetty for years and i fish here almost everyday, first of all everything is all wrong, there hasnt been a bull shark ever once landed, big chunks of meat? using any fish product for “attracting” sharks is legal, the baits arnt a main reason the sharks are around, the sharks come for the warm waters and large schools of bait fish its paradise for them.. you people try to make us look so bad but have yous ever stayed a while and seen what really happenns? no therefore you are not really asked for any input, and FYI the whiting being caught are “trumpet whiting” that do not have a size limit as i have talked with a fisheries officer. all sharks over the legal limit are realeased so whats the problem? the problem is people making somehting bigger than it is.. here is my view as a 15 year old fisherman from the jetty..
and i tell you now if my previous comment does not appear for public to see.. 41 cliff st is getting a very smelly visit this week..!
This article is very inaccurate
1. Killing and cutting a sharks head of that is below the legal length and is not a protected species is legal, cutting a sharks head of is part of the process in making the flesh ready for consumption, this process bleeds the shark, if this was not done the flesh would taste of ammonia
2. There has never been a Bull Shark landed of woodman point jetty.. So how could one be beaten if they are not a species of shark caught at woodman point jetty?
3. Sharks heads do not float, they sink so i struggle to see how one would have been seen floating :/
4. Shark fishermen do not use “meat” to catch sharks, they use large whole fish and this is well within the legal limits of an angler
5. These whiting which are “undersize” do not have a legal size limit, they are southern school whiting which do not have a size limit only a bag limit.
Lastly would you prefer youths running a much in the streets, doing drugs and drinking? Or fishing and keeping away from these things and next time you decide to write a negative article on shark fishing at woodman point jetty get your facts straight. Lick yah dots….
to the writer who wrote this has to be the most retarded fishermen i ever heard.. i hardly go to woodies but for scalies (bait fish). first of your alowed to kill a shark if its in the legal size of 1.6 metres, clearly says here its 1metre that is perfect for eating look at them kids they take there catch hone for there familys to eat.. secondly theres is no reports or never been a bull shark hooked or caught at woodies yet. and 3rd, theres no size on a whiting.. so next tine you rant shit that you dont know make sure you go to the foshries n tell them ur story cause pretty sure they will laugh at you.
The Ed says: The issue is not the legality of taking the sharks, it’s the cruel manner of their death that is at issue. No animal should be made to suffer in its final moments.
so tell me how you kill a shark? the main way of doing it is cut all fins of so it bleeds some ppl cut head of even for jetty with crowded ppl they can snap and bite some one and who are to blame?
You chose the wrong thing to write about……all the comments above all prove that we have done nothing illegal so please do your studies before you accuse of things you know nothing about!!!
Sincerely one angry 16 year old angler
There’s was an interesting tv doco out late last year ‘Jaws: The Great White Myth’ about the effects the movie Jaws had on the way people viewed sharks. There was a big spate of youngsters and others who went to town on anything that looked like a shark the summer the movie came out in the US.
Hard to believe something like that could happen in Perth but perhaps there’s a bit of Jaws fever running through town these school holidays.
Jaws: The Great White Myth – good watch if you can track down a copy. Colin Barnett gets a run, portrayed as the Murray Hamilton character.
There is no “jaws fever” here, the apparent “gang of youths” have been targeting sharks for years, they have not just suddenly felt the urge (“jaws fever”) to start shark fishing because of the recent increase in shark stories and articles in the media.
after reading the herald I was ready to torture Pudzz but after reading his side ive changed my mind. Once again the Herald has sprouted its propaganda in what I believe is an attempt to ban fishing due there loony left ideologies. I already refuse to read articles byh Jenny D’anger due to her very bias and selective resources she uses to continue her cause. A journalist is simply suppose to report all the facts of a story. Not attempt to persuade or taint a story to fullfull their own agendas. Shame on you Herald.
Ben of Melville